Despite bankruptcy, Muzak’s tune still upbeat

FORT MILL, S.C. — About the only quiet places in the headquarters of Muzak Holdings LLC are, believe it or not, the building’s elevators.

The omission is intentional. Muzak management wants visitors to know that the company has abandoned those milquetoast renditions of pop songs that got toes involuntarily tapping in elevators everywhere.

But while Muzak Holdings spent years reinventing itself by selling restaurants and retail stores custom “playlists” — of real songs, not elevator-music versions of them — the company sank deep into debt and lost money. Now Muzak is restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

“This was a financial situation that was looming for 10 years,” said Bruce McKagan, Muzak’s vice president of content services. “This just happened at a